The best European paracanoeists are gathered on the Malta Lake in Poznan, Poland, for the 2019 ECA Paracanoe European Championships which is taking place this Tuesday and Wednesday. During the first competition day we saw six finals. Ukrainian parakayaker Serhii Yemelianov defended his title from last year’s European Championships in Belgrade in men’s KL3 200 metres event.
25-year-old Ukrainian sportsman Serhii Yemelianov has been unbeatable in men’s KL3 200 meters final of the major competitions for some time now. He is the 2016 Paralympic champion, 2017 and 2018 World Champion and was also defending European Champion. In the last final race of the day he produced the best time to win another gold medal for his impressive collection.
“We worked really hard to do this. My wish is to win more European Championships titles, maybe five or six. The race was great. We had a little bit of wind in front, but the race was good,” said Serhii Yemelianov.
Silver medal in this event went to Russia thanks to Leonid Krylov, while British paddler Robert Oliver picked up bronze medal.
Ukraine celebrated also in men’s KL2 200 metres final. Mykola Syniuk celebrated a win in front of Austrian paddler Markus Mendy Swoboda and third placed Italian parakayaker Federico Mancarella.
Young Hungarian paddler Peter Pal Kiss won the European Champion title at the age of 16 in men’s KL1 200 metres final. It was a tight race but he showed more power to stop the clock at 51.797. Italian Esteban Farias was only 0.036 seconds behind to win silver medal at this year’s European Championships. Ian Marsden from Great Britain was third.
Women today competed in outrigger canoes. Unfortunately there was only one official event held out of three, because not enough countries have participated in the event as it is previsioned in the competition rules. Russian paracanoeist Larisa Volik won the European Champion title in women’s VL3 200 metres final, finishing the race ahead of Nataliia Lahutenko from Ukraine and Anja Adler from Germany.
Women’s VL1 and VL2 events were held but the best athletes only received flowers and practical prizes and no European Championships medals were given this time. Emma Wiggs and Jeanette Chippington recorded a double win for Great Britain, while Mariia Nikiforova from Russia finished the race in third place. Esther Bode from Germany was the only competitor in VL1 200 meters race.
On Wednesday the 2019 ECA Paracanoe European Championships will conclude with women’s KL1, KL2 and KL3 events and men’s VL1, VL2 and VL3 semifinals and finals.
Results: http://results.imas-sport.com/imas/regatta.php?competition=wettkampf_199
21.5.2019
